by Dwight Gordon

Greetings, I’m constantly hearing people rant on about immigrants here, particularly the racialized ones. Whether it is about them supposedly bringing their untidiness, their rudeness, or catering to their own kind, or making cities like Toronto more dangerous. I heard a comment about how immigrants here must assimilate. But assimilate into what ? Is that referring to the white Anglo-Saxon Protestant way of life? And if so, does that mean that the aboriginal people don’t mean much? I’m Canadian of Jamaican parentage. So many people see me as being Jamaican just because I talk about Jamaica. I once had to tell a man three times that I was born in Canada. Yet he was quick to remember issues about me that could put me in a negative light. Mere coincidence ? In the meantime, I’ve been told to go back to the country where I supposedly came from. Another person had a hard time believing I was born here because of my black complexion. I keep hearing people rant on about Jamaicans, and blacks, making regions like Toronto more dangerous. So am I supposed to believe that in every case when a person is quick to see me as being from Jamaica, it’s an honest mistake ? In the meantime, Rob Ford interestingly made a comment a long time ago, saying that the Chinese work like dogs and that they’re taking over. And a man who was a company executive who was supposed to become some kind of federal commissioner, had to change his mind when he said something around the line of Jamaicans being a threat to Toronto’s safety. Some federal cabinet ministers ranted on saying that this executive was willing to work for just $1.00. I could swear one of those ranters was the current immigration minister. Thank you

Dwight Gordon — I am a Canadian of Jamaican descent from Toronto, living in Scarborough particularly.  I’m very active in the black and Jamaican communities, and I also participate in causes dealing with racialized communities, poverty, health and disabilities. As I became a teenager, I got some very eye-opening lessons of the problems in society and the world we live in. And the eye-opening lessons never did stop. Me being black of Jamaican heritage definitely indirectly contributed to those lessons. Hence, my activism. Thank you